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Beijing: Right into the World Cup craze

By Jing Shuiyu, Jiao Jie, Zhang Zhuo and Zheng Zhe: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, June 27, 2014

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Soccer fans in China.

The ongoing 2014 FIFA World Cup has sparked the passion of Beijing people again, at an extent that it never had despite the failure of their national team to be qualified. Soccer has undoubtedly become the top concern across the city, no matter you are in the bars, cafes, restaurants or offices.

A growing number of people choose to watch live games via TV or Internet, regardless of how late it is at night and even making "Stay up" a buzzword all over the streets. What's more, a batch of female audience, many of whom claim themselves as "pseudo fans," also emerged as a major group joining in the World Cup craze in Beijing.

To further fuel the craze, all kinds of soccer-related promotion campaigns have dominated the city. Restaurants are always a main player during such events, but many interesting campaigns have also appeared as compared to the four years ago. For instance, Quanjude, a relatively higher-end traditional Chinese restaurant, is spending all-out efforts in providing soccer-themed dishes to attract increasing potential customers.

As bars remain an indispensable choice for World Cup fans, many shopping malls are trying every means in a bid to grab a piece of cake during this event. This is the case with Guomao Mall, which is now organizing a mini World Cup at its mini indoor playground to satisfy the needs of those eager to have a real game like stars.

Perhaps the most creative action is renaming 32 stations of subway line 4 after the 32 competing national teams. Though it just lasted for two days due to the fear of making commuters losing their way, there are still some public-service ads aiming at introducing Brazilian soccer culture through the perspectives of nine common Brazilians living in Beijing.

To better show you the heated atmosphere in Beijing, an infographic showing the "Beijing Map for Celebrating World Cup" is attached in the following. In this infographic, the top 10 recommended places for celebrating World Cup are especially highlighted in the left side to show you more details.